launch day

We’ve come to a time when racing game photorealism is old hat. We’ve done the fun comparison between screenshots and actual images on the track. Developers have added modes where players can take photographs of their cars and share them on the Web, a move that sometimes impresses friends. (When did you get a Ferrari?) If the current generation is about making racing games look inseparable from real life, what will the genre’s next step be on the Xbox One?

Turn 10 Studios tries to answer that with Forza Motorsports 5. I had a chance to get some hands-on time with the launch-day racing title two weeks ago. From what I previewed, the developer seems focused on keeping the racing franchise more accessible and at the same time creating deeper experience through Drivatar, an artificial intelligence that mimics a player’s driving traits.